Greetings and salutations, one and all.  Whether you're one of my few routine readers here on Myspace (for the blogs) or a customer of Booksforabuck.com, or an author in Mr. Preece's stable such as myself, I'd like to take the opportunity to say thank you for the support you have given me in my young career. 

While I am usually fond of the 'strike while the iron's hot' mentality, it has been pointed out to me by a few friends and contacts that I have produced what may not be an ideal amount of material in the last two years, with nine books coming out over that span of time.  Four Tamalarian Tales (three if you think of the Freedom or the Fire volumes as one Tale), two Bob the Zombie novellas, two Amelia City novels, and one non-genre novel (The Last Days of Freedman High).  I haven't been great about pacing myself, though there is a reason for this.

You see, many of the manuscripts which I have published through Booksforabuck and Createspace (before that, Lulu) were works that had already gone through first, second, and third drafts with preliminary editing on my end.  I had this body of work, and no clear way to get published.  I tried the traditional route, but found a great deal of resistance in the mainstream publication market, unable to snag an agent and thus, no publishing deal. 

A large part of this had been a general ignorance on my part of how precisely the industry operates.  I was not exceedingly familiar with the 'Pitch-Letter' (read: query letter/cover letter).  I failed to educate myself in the mechanics of procedure that have been embedded in the industry since time out of mind.  I had nobody to blame but myself, though at the time, I did choose to try and blame somebody.  'The industry is all wrong-headed', I told myself, or, 'It isn't fair'. 

Life isn't fair.  I had somehow managed to forget that very important lesson.

However, I began looking for smaller, independent press houses to hopefully pick me up and produce my works, and through a series of inquiries to various of these publishers, asking where best my works might be represented, I arrived at last on the electronic doorstep of EPIC and Fictionwise-recognized Booksforabuck.com.  Since then, I have been exceedingly pleased with the editing advice I have received from Mr. Preece, the principal owner-operator of this wonderful small press.

One of my self-produced works, 'Motor City Shambler', which received a review from Booksforabuck.com, is soon going to be produced as an e-book by same said publisher, and I couldn't be more pleased with the prospect.  This is the one book that unfailingly gets me praise and chuckles from those to whom I have personally sold trade paperback copies, by far their favorite thus far.  I have not personally sold paperback copies of any of my Tamalarian Tales yet; I am awaiting the opportunity my friend Jaimie has promised me to vend my fiction wares through a small store he and a couple of friends are opening up in Derby, New York soon called 'The Core'.  But even when these folks who've read 'Motor City' have reviewed my other horror works (the Amelia City stories), they always prefer the adventures of good ol' Bob the Zombie.

I posted a blog entry a number of weeks ago outlining what I hoped to accomplish in publishing terms this year, and I believe I may have pushed a little too hard.  Already 'Glove of Shadows' has launched this year, and I'm touching up another Tamalarian Tales installment, 'Elsewhere and Asides', a collection of short stories all taking place in that fabled land.  I hope to have it come out this year as well through Booksforabuck.com.  However, I am not entirely certain at this time if a third Tamalarian Tale will be called for for 2009, but know this; I have three more Tamalarian Tales prepped and ready to head in for submissions and editing after 'Elsewhere and Asides' after a little fine tuning.  Tamalaria's future is fairly clear to me, and it is my hope that it rests in the capable hands of Mr. Robert Preece and Booksforabuck.com for the forseeable future. 

Pacing is key, however, as I have been advised and truly believe that pacing, at this juncture, would be the prudent course to take. 

And that is why I am hopeful that 'Motor City Shambler', the first installment in the Bob the Zombie Trilogy (still working on the final installment), receives the warm welcome I feel it deserves, both from Booksforabuck and Fictionwise customers.  With two of my series in the care of Booksforabuck, I am hopeful that my budding career as a small-press author will grow hale and hearty.

Much like the trees one helps save by reading electronic or ordering any of the wonderful print-on-demand trade paperback novels written by the independents of the industry.

Thank you.

-Joshua T. Calkins-Treworgy